Archive: Society | Minorities Minorities
Police crack down on women’s branch of Czech neo-Nazi movement
The Czech police have cracked down on a group called Resistance Women
Unity, a women´s branch of the Czech neo-Nazi movement National
Resistance. Fifteen women were arrested and charged with promoting and
supporting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. I
spoke to Miroslav Mareš of Masaryk University in Brno, one of the Czech
Republic’s leading experts on far-right extremism, to find out more about
the role of women in neo-Nazi groups in the present day Czech Republic. More
Roma kids from special schools put Czech education system to shame in Great Britain
Thousands of teachers around the country are up in arms. They are unhappy
about the government’s plans to gradually phase out special schools –
or schools for children with a mental or physical handicap – and
integrate as many of these children as possible into the education
mainstream. More
Icy temperatures pose threat to Prague homeless, Czech capital opens tent shelter
With temperatures in Prague expected to drop as low as minus 20 degrees in
the coming days, the Czech capital’s homeless are at high risk. Due to
the harsh weather, homeless shelters are already close to operating at full
capacity. To help battle deaths from exposure city hall officials have
arranged for a large heated tent to be put up for those with no roof over
their heads. More
Prosecutors rule out murder in north Bohemian shooting
Prosecutors investigating a New Year’s Day shooting in the north Bohemian
town of Tanvald, which left a Romany man dead and injured another, have
ruled out murder or any other premeditated crime. The investigators on
Friday said the 63-year-old shooter was facing an intense assault by two
Romany men in a conflict that had no racial or material motives. More
Extremist lawyer claims judicial expert biased because of Jewish background
Michal Mazel, a highly-respected judicial expert on extremism in the Czech
Republic (whose testimony was crucial in such cases as the Vítkov arson
attack and the dissolution of the rightwing Workers’ Party), has resigned
after an objection was filed against his assessment in a current case.
Lawyer Petr Kočí filed the objection on behalf of his client, a member of
the extremist Workers’ Party for Social Justice, charged with inciting
ethnic hatred, that Mr Mazel is biased because of his Jewish background.
For the judicial expert the objection was the last straw; the move also
shocked others, fuelling calls for the lawyer to be disbarred. More
Vsetín faces Roma exodus
In late 2006, Jiří Čunek, then mayor of the eastern town of Vsetín and
later Christian Democrat chairman, made a controversial decision to move
several hundred Romany rent-defaulters out of a dilapidated block of flats
in the town centre and relocate them in a complex of portacabins on the
outskirts of Vsetín. Now, five years on, most of them are choosing to move
even further – as far as the United Kingdom. More
Using classical music to help children out of poverty
In this special programme, David Vaughan looks at a unique project to
encourage children with musical talent who come from some of the poorest
families in the Czech Republic. The project enables primary school children
to learn to play with some of the country’s foremost classical musicians.
Its success is a reminder of the power of music to cross boundaries of
language, class and culture. More
Roma rights advocate Gwendolyn Albert on anti-Romany rallies, poverty and the government’s strategy in combating social exclusion
The Czech Republic recently saw an outbreak of tensions between the
country’s Romany minority and parts of the majority population. People in
the isolated northern Bohemian region of Šluknov began holding anti-Romany
rallies to protest a growing crime rate in the region; the government
reacted by sending in the police but also by adopting a plan to tackle the
issue of Romany exclusion and impoverishment. To discuss these and other
issues, Radio Prague spoke to Gwendolyn Albert who for the past 15 years
has been working with the Romany advocacy group, Romea. More
Expert on extremism: racism in mainstream politics poses bigger threat than ultra-right groups
The special Czech police squad for fighting organized crime has warned that
ultra-right groupings in the country have been gathering strength and are
now better organized and more active than before the 2010 clamp-down on
extremism. The Workers Party, banned by a court ruling in 2010, has
successfully regrouped into the Workers Party of Social Justice and
ultra-right activists are making an all out effort to use the wave of
anti-Romany sentiment in the north of the country to their best advantage.
So far the public has shown little sign of supporting them –but does that
mean there is no potential for extremism in the Czech Republic? A question
for Klára Kalibová, a lawyer who specializes in hate crime. More
Ethnic tensions rack north Bohemian town of Varnsdorf
The Czech Republic is experiencing something unseen in its modern history.
After two decades of neglecting the problems of the country’s Romany
minority, ethnic and social tensions erupted last month in a remote
northern Bohemian district of Šluknov where thousands of people take to
the streets every weekend to protest against the Romanies and their
lifestyle. More
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